Tomb Kings Timeline
of Nehekhara]] Countless centuries ago in the land of Nehekhara, far to the south of the Old World, there rose a mighty civilisation of Man. It was at its most powerful two and a half millennia before the coming of the barbaric hero-deity Sigmar, a time when the other Men of the world were still primitive and savage. The ancient myths and legends of these people, carved on the tombs and monuments of their cities, say that the Nehekharans were so favoured by the heavens that the first of them were nurtured and taught by the gods themselves. Greatest of the cities of Nehekhara was Khemri. The other cities were each ruled and governed by their own kings, though they all were loyal and paid tribute to the kings of Khemri itself. Together, these kings conquered the tribes in the surrounding lands, drove back the Greenskins and ruled from the western desert to the eastern sea. At the height of their power they had expanded and conquered lands as far north as what is now the Empire, far south into the steaming jungle of the Southlands as well as to the north and east into the Dark Lands. Their fleets of war galleys terrorised the Great Ocean, raiding up and down the coast and causing terror wherever they went. Age of Kings * ca.-2500 IC -- The Rise of Nehekhara. During this time there were many kings and their names are not remembered, save for Nehek, who founded the city of Khemri. Thereafter, other cities were raised, but these kings warred upon each other and there was much strife in the land. * -2500 -- Settra is crowned as the first of the Priest Kings and conquers the entirety of Nehekhara. With his coming, the great rulership of Khemri becomes law, and Nehekhara enters an unprecedented era of prosperity and expansion. * c.-2460 -- Following his victory over the Orcs of the Bloody Fang tribe, Settra becomes vexed that he will one day grow old and die. Settra founds the Mortuary Cult and commands its priests to discover the secrets of immortality. * -2390 -- Settra names Nekaph as his personal champion. Over the following decades Nekaph secures the unconditional surrender of over a dozen foreign cities. Scores more refuse to submit to Settra's rule and are subsequently destroyed. * -2383 -- The King of Bhagar revolts against Settra's rule. Order is quickly restored when the Herald Nekaph travels to the city and slays the rebellious king. * -2350 -- Settra perishes, and his body is interred within a magnificent pyramid in preparation for a time when he will arise to his Reign of Millions of Years. * -2350 to -1950 -- The Time of Kings. Dozens of kings come and pass following the death of Settra. Upon their deaths, they are mummified and entombed in ever more elaborate pyramids along with the still-living soldiery of their legions. * -2000 -- The Birth of Nagash. * -1968 -- A cabal of Dark Elves are driven off course by storms and are shipwrecked in Nehekhara. Nagash captures and imprisons the pale-skinned foreigners and learns the secrets of Dark Magic from them. * -1950 to -1600 -- The Reign of Terror. Nagash murders his brother and seizes the throne of Khemri. He creates the Elixir of Life to prolong his fading youth and rules his kingdom through dread and fear. During this time, Nagash develops his mastery of sorcery and instructs the building of the Black Pyramid. Following its construction, Nagash and his vizier, Arkhan, raise armies of Skeletons to war against the Priest Kings. * -1600 -- Nagash is overthrown by the Army of the Seven Kings. Khemri is besieged and then sacked. Arkhan is killed covering his master's retreat. Nagash flees north to plot his revenge. * -1600 to -1200 -- Dynasties rise and fall, each trying to rebuild their lands following the treachery of Nagash. Nehekhara reverts to a feudal state. * -1563 -- The royal line of Numas is murdered by Prince Apophas. The populace rebels and Apophas is executed, his bones cursed to the depths of the Underworld. * -1520 -- Neferatam Queen of Lahmia, recreates the Elixir of Life, birthing the race of Vampires. Neferata's cousin, Queen Khalida of Lybaras, grows suspicious of the Lahmian court, but is slain before she can expose their dark secret. * c.-1200 -- Alcadizaar the Conqueror is crowned King of Khemri. He binds the entire land of Nehekhara under his charismatic rule and conquers the ancient city of Ka-Sabar from the desert tribes. Nehekhara begins to prosper once more. * c.-1185 -- Ramhotep, the greatest Necrotect of Nehekhara, finishes construction of the Sepulchre of the Heavens in Quatar. As a reward, the master artisan is mummified alive and interred within this magnificent monument. * -1170 -- The taint of vampirism is discovered in Lahmia. The entire cursed city is reduced to ruins by Alcadizaar's forces, and the Vampires are forced to flee north to Nagashizzar. * -1163 -- Nagash returns. He resurrects Arkhan the Black who joins the Vampires in leading a vast army of the dead against the Priest Kings but, led by Alcadizaar, the living prevail against them. * -1152 -- Plague besets Nehekhara. Nagash comes forth for a second time and the Priest Kings are unable to stop him. Alcadizaar is imprisoned and Nagash sits upon the throne of Khemri. * -1151 -- The Great Ritual. After consuming vast amounts of warpstone, Nagash casts the great spell of awakening and curses the realm of Nehekhara to Undeath. Before the ritual's completion, Nagash is slain by Alcadizaar, mysteriously freed from captivity. The great spell spirals out of control and the Tomb Kings stir from their slumber. Alcadizaar vanishes from history. So ends the living line of Khemrian kings. The Reign of Millions of Years Settra's Reign of Millions of Years is considered to have begun with his awakening approximately 1150 years before Sigmar, by Imperial reckoning. Thus Settra and the other Tomb Kings awakened at this time are in their 3500th year of their everlasting reigns. Many kings are awakened at various intervals since the great awakening, and thus date their reigns from that time. Needless to say, many awakened kings claim sovereignty over the same Necropoli and, when not actually at war with each other, remain in uneasy peace or temporary alliance. The Liche Priests of Nehekhara have compiled annals of the reigns of the awakened Settra since the beginning and these are recorded on scrolls and also inscribed in hieroglyphic script on the walls of various restored temples in the Necropolis. What follows is a summary of the shortest of these annals. Only a selection of interesting events are inscluded because they either refer to contact with other races or have an insight to what happens within Nehekhara. Note that Settra's year dates are used. * 1 (ca.-1151 IC) -- ''The War of the Kings''. Bitter fighting wracks Nehekhara as the Tomb Kings battle each other for supremacy. Khatep opens the Great Pyramid of Khemri and awakens Settra, who smites his rivals and brings all under his rule. So begins Settra's Reign of Millions of Years. * 2 (-1150) -- The acclimation of Settra the king as foremost amongst the Awakened Ones in the land of Nehekhara and lord of the Necropolis. The bringing of tribute from the Lords of Zandri, Numas and Rasetra. * 3 (-1149) -- Arkhan the Black, repelled from Khemri by Settra, attacks the city of Bel-Aliad, beginning what Arabyan chroniclers will later call the ''Wars of Death''. For the next thousand years Arkhan raids the lands of the living across the world. * 138 (-1013) -- King Settra and King Rakash go forth to overthrow the rebels in the necropolis of Mahral. * 150 (-1002) -- The Liche High Priest Intarep the Mad inadvertently tears open a rift to the Realm of Chaos. Thousands of Daemons rampage through the dusty streets of Nehekhara — any disappointment the Daemons of Khorne feel at the lack of blood to spill is easily overcome by the vista of naked skulls waiting to be claimed. The invasion is only halted when Settra himself returns from campaign, defeats the Great Unclean One who commands the daemonic host and bodily hurls Intarep into the rift. * 177 (-975) -- Apophas is reborn as the Cursed Scarab Lord and begins to roam the world in search for the one soul that will release him from his eternal torment. * 235 (-917) -- Nehekhara is invaded by Lizardmen from the Southlands who are searching for lost plaques looted from their temple-cities in ages past. The reptilian warhost smashes aside skeletal armies at both Ka-Sabar and Bhagar as they continue to march ever deeper into the Land of the Dead. They are finally defeated at the City of Kings when Liche Priests focus the rays of the sun through the mirrored prisms atop Khemri's gold-capped pyramids. * 275 (-877) -- Strife in the necropolis of Zandri. * 510 (-642) -- The Black Maw tribe of Ogres descends upon the city of Quatar, intent on a feast of bread made from the ground bones of ancient kings. Several tombs are demolished and countless hundreds of Skeleton Warriors are smashed asunder by the Ogre horde, before an army of statues marches out of the Charnel Valley and utterly destroys the invaders. * 554 (-598) -- King Alkharad awakens and does battle against the Orchites and Goblinites in the ''War of Bones''. * 697 (-455) -- King Qu'a of Zandri and King Rapesh of Numas form an alliance and attempt to overthrow Settra. The King of Khemri is only saved from an assassin's magical blade by the intervention of his bodyguard, Nekaph. The rebel kings battle against Khemri's legions for seven days and seven nights, but Settra prevails, and the defeated kings slink back to their tombs. Settra orders their pyramids toppled and commands his Tomb Guard to drag their mummified corpses from their resting places whereupon they are set ablaze, and their charred skeletons are shattered beneath the heavy wheels of Settra's golden chariot. * 916 to 921 (-241 to -236) -- The Chariot Wars. King Behedesh of Zandri utterly destroys both the Black Wolves Goblins and the Gouging Tusks Orcs in a merciless campaign that concludes in the heart of the Badlands with an epic battle involving over seven thousand chariots. * 1117 to 1142 (-40 to 15) -- Nagash is reborn exactly 1,111 years after he was destroyed. He attempts to force the Tomb Kings to obey his orders, but under Settra's leadership, they force him to retreat back to Nagashizzar. Over the following decades, Nagash rebuilds his Undead realm and preys on the barbarian men of what will later be called the Empire until he is defeated in an epic duel by the warrior-Emperor Sigmar. * 1228 (101) -- The War Fleets Sail Forth. Settra seeks to restore his dominance of the oceans as well as the lands, and he instructs that his war fleets be raised and made sea worthy once more. * 1238 (111) -- Arkhan the Black returns to Nehekhara. He reclaims the Black Tower and carves out a realm of his own, establishing an uneasy truce with the other Tomb Kings. *c. 1247 to 1297 (c.120 to 170) -- King Setep of Bhagar invades the Border Princes and reclaims much of his lost territory. * 1251 (124) -- Settra commands that his mighty war galleons be brought forth from the tomb pits to sail once more upon the river. When this is done according to the king, they go forth upon the seas to distant lands in order to seize captives. * 1252 (125) -- The War Fleet of Khemri returns bringing captives to be set to work. Settra commands the wells of pure water be sunk and irrigation canals be dug so that Khemri might be restored as in former days. These things are done, and the king's heart is gladdened. * 1337 to Present (210 to Present) -- The War of the Hammer. A mighty throng of Dwarfs march upon the city of Mahrak to retrieve a revered heirloom, the Hammer of Algrim. During the attack, the Dragon Slayer Drong Sternbeater is turned to sand when he charges headlong into a trio of Sepulchral Stalkers. Outraged at such an unworthy death, a thousand Slayers go berserk and blindfold themselves before descending upon Mahrak to avenge Drong's death. Amidst the carnage, the Hammer of Algrim is retrieved, and the Dwarfs return to Karak Azul, considering the matter at an end. However, the Hammer of Algrim contains a single disc of bronze belonging to King Alkharad, whose skeletal legions immediately set forth to reclaim it. Over the following centuries, the hammer exchanges hands over three dozen times. * 1520 (393) -- Prince Dekhesh goes forth against the Khrokodites. * 1610 (483) -- King Lakhashar's legion is inexplicably destroyed whilst returning from its victory against the Crooked Moon Goblins. The Tomb King's remains are discovered by Nekaph who finds a single Necrosphinx standing immobile amidst a sea of broken bones and shattered skulls. * 1789 (662) -- Kazadite Tomb Robbers violate and pillage the tombs of kings. * 1793 (666) -- A host of Daemons invades Nehekhara, and Settra's army is hard pressed to halt the onslaught. Aid arrives when a High Elf army, led by Prince Stormrider, offers an alliance. The spears of the Glittering Host and the Golden Army fight side by side, and the Daemons are vanquished before Nagash's Black Pyramid. * 2000 (873) -- Rasetra is attacked by the dragon-sized spiders of Mount Arachnos and saved only due to the magical intervention of a mysterious stranger. * 2087 (960) -- Strife in the necropolis of Numas. * c.2127 to Present (c.1000 to Present) -- Count Shuvaltz of Averland hears hushed tales of treasures heaped in the ancient tombs of Nehekhara and he gathers together an army of mercenaries to march into the Land of the Dead. Shuvaltz's expedition is ambushed on its return to the Empire by legions of Skeletons that burst from the ground. Only a single bloodied soldier survives to make it back to the Empire. His ramblings of dead men walking are dismissed as desert-madness, but his mutters of golden artefacts are spread far and wide. Thus begins centuries of unbridled greed, where countless armies, adventurers, and tomb robbers from across the world travel to Nehekhara to find their fortunes. * 2294 (1167) -- Zandri is assaulted by a Black Ark of Naggaroth. The Dark Elves' numerous War Hydras are only killed when Necrolith Colossi drag them into the Great Mortis River and drown them beneath the poisonous waters. * 2326 (1199) -- Settra's war fleet goes forth for the eleventh time to seize captives from distant lands. This time, the ships return empty on account of a battle upon the sea. * 2375 (1248) -- Count Otto von Luitpold's prized antiquity collection is unsealed and put on display in the Altdorf museum, including the priceless Golden Death Mask of Kharnut. Sensing the presence of the ancient artefact, a dozen Tomb Kings awaken from their slumber and together they lead their combined armies into the heart of the Empire to retrieve it. * 2448 (1321) -- Kalandrithir, the Great Golden Drake, awakens from his millennia-long hibernation in the Worlds Edge Mountains. For reasons unknown, the vast Dragon descends into the Land of the Dead and topples dozens of Quartar's pyramids, obliterating whole dynasties of Tomb Kings whilst they slumber. Kalandrithir continues tearing the necropolis asunder until a Necrolith Colossus shoots the ancient creature through the heart with a single shot from a giant golden bow. * 2543 (1416) -- During the Fourth Quest of Duke Theuderic de Fois, King Kerathop II of Zandri reawakens to slay the Bretonnian forces outright. Years later, Allun Gartner, Translator and Curator of the Great Museum of Altdorf would confirm the events after Benabic de Bordeleaux, Theuderic's great-grandson, hired an adventurer to bring back rubbings of Nehekharan hieroglyphs from the great obelisk to the north of Zandri. * 2588 (1461) -- The coming of sorcerers from among the desert dwellers seeking scrolls. They ransack the necropolis of Zandri and slay many Liche Priests who were guarding the scrolls. They then come onto Khemri and break into the tombs of kings, causing them to awaken in wrath. Great slaughter is made among them. * c.2579 (c.1452) -- Duke Cheldric of Brionne is assassinated by Prince Apophas as the Bretonnians return from their victory against Sultan Jaffar of Araby, precipitating a century of retaliatory crusades against Nehekhara. * 2603 (1476) -- A mighty horde made up of numerous warriors of unknown tribes, clad in iron, come into Nehekhara from the lands of the desert dwellers. They fought against the Tomb Kings of Zandri but turn not in Khemri. Having passed thus across the desert, they disappear into the wilderness. Some among them despoiled tombs and seize gold and also scrolls of the priests. * 2877 (1750) -- King Rakaph does battle three times against the desert dwellers and seizes tribute. * 3151 (2024) -- Settra goes forth with his entire army against Numas and overthrows the rebellious ones before they arise from their tomb vaults. The stones which had been taken from Settra's Pyramid in former days are brought back into Khemri and the Pyramid restored. * 3268 (2141) -- Ramhotep the Visionary finishes construction of the Great Terracotta Wall, but it is destroyed during the Battle of the Steel Flame by Steam Tanks of the Empire. Ramhotep swears he will reconstruct the wall using the bones of his enemies. *c.3277 (c.2150) -- High Queen Khalida of Lybaras awakens when Mannfred von Carstein returns to Lahmia in search of a lost relic of great magical power. The Vampire Lord's horde is cut down by volleys of poisonous arrows as Khalida battles with Count Mannfred himself, wounding the Vampire and forcing him to flee. * 3352 (2225) -- Led by Graf Heimholtz, Templar Grand Master of the Knights of the Blazing Sun, an army of the Empire marches upon Numas. Though King Pharakh falls in combat against the Grand Master, the Graf is himself slain when the cursed Apophas appears and claims his soul. * 3477 (2350) -- Arkhan the Black forms a temporary alliance with High Queen Khalida, and together they travel into Sylvannia. As Khalida smites the Vampire Lord Mandregan, Arkhan recovers the Staff of Nagash from his coffin. * 3649 to Present (2522 to Present) -- Settra the Imperishable embarks upon his great purge and begins a new age of conquest, seeking to enlarge his realm to encompass the entire world. The armies of Nehekhara mass behind him and thus the great expansion begins. * 3656 (2529) -- The Tilites come into Nehekhara seeking to despoil the necropolis and carry off gold. They despoil tombs in Zandri. King Behedesh and King Memnesh fight against them many times, desisting not in the attack while they remained in the Land of the Dead. Source * : Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings (8th Edition) ** : pg. 20 ** : pg. 21 * : Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings (6th Edition) ** : pg. 4 * : Warhammer Armies: Daemons of Chaos (8th Edition) ** : pg. 17 * : Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings (7th Edition) ** : pg. 8 ** : pg. 9 * : White Dwarf #277 ** : pg. 34-53 Category:Timelines Category:Tomb Kings Category:K Category:T